 | Songs of field and flood |  |
33
TOLL! TOLL! TOLL!
[_]
As I was passing down the Potomac one rainy forenoon on my journey southward, absorbed in Kossuth's Birmingham speech, suddenly the boat began to slacken her speed, and toll her bell faintly and slowly, and I found we were passing along by Mount Vernon. The impression produced I have feebly recorded in the following lines.
Toll! toll! toll!
O'er Potomac's placid wave
To Mount Vernon's hallowed grave,
Let the solemn pealings roll!
O'er Potomac's placid wave
To Mount Vernon's hallowed grave,
Let the solemn pealings roll!
Toll! toll! toll!
For to-day fair Nature weeps
Where the sainted hero sleeps;
Toll! toll!
For to-day fair Nature weeps
Where the sainted hero sleeps;
Toll! toll!
34
Toll! toll! toll!
Not for him who lies at rest
On Mount Vernon's sheltering breast,
With Freedom's God his soul!
Not for him who lies at rest
On Mount Vernon's sheltering breast,
With Freedom's God his soul!
Toll! toll! toll
Not for bleeding Hungary,
Who, though prostrate, still is free
In her soul!
Not for bleeding Hungary,
Who, though prostrate, still is free
In her soul!
Toll! toll! toll
Not for holy Justice fled,—
Not for sacred Honor dead,—
Oh not yet—not yet—my soul!
Not for holy Justice fled,—
Not for sacred Honor dead,—
Oh not yet—not yet—my soul!
Toll! toll! toll!
For our land's and freedom's sake,
That solemn thoughts may wake,
All vain ones to control!
For our land's and freedom's sake,
That solemn thoughts may wake,
All vain ones to control!
35
Thoughts of him—the noble soul—
Who from yonder silent shore
Speaks peace for evermore,
Bidding angry strifes give o'er—
Slowly toll!
Who from yonder silent shore
Speaks peace for evermore,
Bidding angry strifes give o'er—
Slowly toll!
Mobile, Dec. 16, 1851.
| Songs of field and flood | |